Western Montana to Be Hit With High Winds and Mountain Snow
KGVO News recently spoke to the National Weather Service office in Missoula about an expected high wind even headed into the area this week.
Meteorologist Joe Messina provided these details.
“There's a very strong upper level jet streak that's going to come over the Pacific Northwest and into the Northern Rockies that's going to bring some really high winds,” said Messina. “We're talking in the 40 to 50 mile per hour winds down in the valleys and even higher up on the ridge tops, and it'll bring a healthy dose of snow to the mountain passes, more likely in the six to eight inch range for places like Lookout, Lolo, and Marias Pass.”
Messina said Monday and Tuesday will be most impacted by the winds and mountain snow.
“With the system on Monday and Tuesday, the winds will be strong enough to get some pretty good impacts in the way of potential for knocking over some trees in wet soil and some power outages and some really difficult driving for high profile vehicles especially in that zone, that’s the I-90 area in the Butte, Anaconda and Deer Lodge areas.”
Messina emphasized the danger of possible downed trees throughout the area of the strong winds.
“It's still going to be windy,” he said. So there will definitely be some high impact winds,” he said. “We'll see some downed trees we'll see some potential for some power outages, so definitely secure items that are that may be blown around. Be careful if you have bigger trees. If you're heading into the backcountry, be very mindful of those winds and snow as well.”
Messina said temperatures will be in the 40’s during the day and into the low 30’s at night.